hmmm….. I am not sure I feel about thisIts one thing to out priests who are vocally homophobic, but to threaten gay priests with outing if they don’t actively work to oppose their church leadership seems of a different character.  Remember, Fr. Geoffrey Farrow was essentially fired for speaking against a directive from his bishop. So this organization seems to want to force gay priests to choose between being outed, or choosing to lose their job.
Heroic gestures are fine for those who choose them, but I am not sure they should be forced on people.

@LynnIf their job involves collusion in our oppression and vilification, maybe losing their job isn’t such a bad thing. We need fewer people against us; this site might help with that. Moreover, if their parishioners can better see the hypocrisy of the RCC, they might not be so willing to give money to aid discrimination directed against the LGBT population. We need to stop giving those who oppress us a pass to keep doing what they’re doing.

Out them allEven gay priests who don’t actually toe the bishops’ homophobic line are still working to support, enrich and empower them.  If they “don’t actively work to oppose their church leadership” they are quite clearly collaborating with them.  The French Resistance used to kill collaborationists; all this site is doing is exposing them.
If Silence does not equal Death, at the very least it equals acquiescence.  We keep hearing from the gay Catholic crowd that they are working to change the church from within; well, it’s high time they start actually doing so.  How can you object to us holding them to their own stated standards?
And as for “choosing to lose their job,” they can always get honest work that does not involve trying to convince suckers the faithful that they have the magical power to turn bread into meat.

100% behind this“As long as demonizing entire groups can lead to power and profit, unscrupulous people will keep doing it.” – Richard Rosendall
This anti-gay campaign is the tool the catholic church, along with the religious bigots are using to fuel and fund their organizations. Front and center of these hate-fests are ‘the gays!’ or shall I say ‘ex-gays’, ‘saved gays’, or the ‘celibate gays.’ Head into any homohaters lawmakers office and, suprise- staffed by ‘the gays’, and many are gay themselves.
You want to be in the closet? Then be in the closet. Lock the door, throw away the key. I don’t care, it’s your choice. But to hate yourself so much that you place yourself out front and center in the anti-gay lie and distortion campaign, just so you can what? hate yourself even more…. then don’t be saying ‘no fair’ to your public outing.  

render unto god what is god’sThe catholic church has the freedom to hate on us to their hearts’ content.
And we have the freedom to make them pay the price for meddling in the affairs of Caesar.

There’s nothing heroic about itStopping the political abuse of the Church’s power, which has real consequences for real people, is not a heroic thing to do.
It’s the least they can do, having benefitted from the donations that feed the Church.
No one is asking these men, who participate in my oppression as well as their own, to become Fr. Super Gay Rights Action Figure ™.
All they have to do is get to work ‘changing the Church from within’, which is how all Catholics, lay and ordained, excuse themselves from following the command Jesus laid on them–to speak up for the least among us.
If it turns out that nailing a copy of the Advocate to the doors of the National Cathedral is as likely to work as ‘change from within’, well, it’s been tried…ask a Lutheran!

Only Some?What?  They’re initiating a web site to convince me that only some of the RCC hierarchy are liars and hypocrites?

Nothing good comes of this.There probably will be an eruption, Pam…as well there should be.  The only people that get hurt here are the people who are outed and those who they have a opportunity to minister to on the frontlines of their faith.  This campaign could out every single priest in the United States, and it won’t change a thing.  The leadership of the church in Rome will only harden more.  There is already a vast chasm between the practice of the RCC faith in the United States and the rigid toe-the-line attitudes of Rome.
This is not the same as outing two-faced evangelical pastors who are getting their d*ck on the side while preaching anti-gay tirades.  Celibate gay catholic priests can live within the faith.  (The outing of the hypocrites who are having heterosexual relationships I have no problem with.)
This is also not the same as outing congressional staffers and elected officials who actively work against us.  Most of the priests that will be hurt by this toil in spite of the Church hierarchy’s ignorance and closed-mindedness.  Those are the priests who are bold enough to have a richer, wider understanding of the Catholic faith.
This also harms the thousands and thousands of gay catholic kids, who might reach out to their parish priest (or some other priest, like at schools) and find a way to live within their faith and be openly gay.  (As I did.)
This campaign will do exactly what Attey thinks it will stop: “perpetuate the cycle of spiritual and emotional abuse that has harmed countless LGBT Catholic youth for generations”.
And frankly we should all find this distasteful:

Reports, once verified, will be used to pressure reported priests to vocally oppose the leadership’s anti-gay efforts

In other words, we’re going to blackmail them.  Count me out.  And disgusted.
A better campaign would be to encourage Catholics who give money to their parishes to stop doing so until the hierarchy here gets out of politics.  Large majorities of the Catholic faithful don’t vote in line with the Church’s teachings.  Motivate them to stop funding the hate instead.

my anger at the arch dioces is nearly volcanicStill I’m not keen on outing these priests. I’d rather LGBTs be seen in candle light vigils outside Catholic churches night after night praying those priests, nuns, and parishoners stop abetting the hatred the Vatican is aiming at LGBTs and women.
Ask them to walk out of the churches and into the street as allies, like social justice Catholics did for DECADES.

@peteywell, I’m not in favor of leaving religion alone, like some other people:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…
you know, most of my comments huff neglected to post.

I’m more divided about this today than I was yesterdayIf it’s some queenly bishop kowtowing to the dictates of Rome, out them. If it’s someone who is truly trying to work from the inside (and there are some) then…I don’t know.

forgetting my Church hierarchyor cardinal or archbishop or priest…then, yes, out them too.

How’s this different from the Congressional staffers?I think that’s an apt analogy.
Would a staffer working for a Senator who had done as much to damage our civil equality be justified in asking to be left alone, because he feels that the Senator is otherwise doing great work on different topics?
I don’t think so.
The Church is not going to harden more, as it has nowhere to go. Having inserted itself between me and my civil rights, the RCC has to expect to be treated as a political entity–that’s the behavior that closeted priests and bishops (shh!) are participating in, and it’s unacceptable.
This is a secular country, the Vatican is a foreign government, and you seem to suggest that those of us being stomped on by the USCCB should not use the only leverage we have–on ethical grounds.
Those of us who are not Catholic are tired of being forced to live by the tenets of a minority faith.

Staffers are not an apt analogyI think I understand what you’re trying to say, but I disagree.  Congressional staffers aren’t the people working to provide guidance to their followers.  Congressional staffers actively work to support and advance legislation. When you out a congressional staffer, you (maybe) ruin his professional life and impact a couple people around him.  And maybe you get a change in one vote in the legislature.
But when you out a priest, especially those ministering to parishes or in other direct-ministry contexts, you don’t just impact that priest.  You impact a multitude of personal relationships that have nothing to do with the Church’s political stance.  A vast majority of priests do nothing like what congressional staffers do.  They deal with the everyday problems of their parishes and parishioners and minister to them.  The priests are the ones doing all that other “good work”.  (Admittedly, the blurring of the line that may make the analogy more accurate is as it applies to those priests who work directly in support (i.e., on the staff of) a bishop or Archbishop.)  I would further add that celibate gay priests aren’t the hypocrites that our hypothetical Congressional staffers are.  Because those priests have answered their own call to faith and live within that faith the way their Church requires.
I’m not arguing we shouldn’t use leverage we have.  I’m saying that outing priests is not leverage.  (and perhaps this is where we really disagree. )  In fact it probably works against us, because it will ruin the lives of decent priests and turn off those Catholic voters who like their priests and may be on the fence when it comes to legislation because they disagree with church leadership.  And who, like many American catholics in the pews, really don’t give a hoot what the RCC leadership tells them to do in the voting booth or the bedroom.
We beat the RCC hierarchy by appealing to, and winning, the members of the church, not the leadership.  The votes of a few bishops are easily outweighed by the counter-votes of catholics who disagree with church leadership.

Out them allThen let’s go for hate speech laws.

“gay catholic kids, who might reach out to their parish priest”I can’t believe you’re serious about this.  MUCH more often than not, those gay Catholic kids are told they are intrinsically evil (the church’s stated position, in case you missed it) by priests following the party line.  I was.  As I wrote in the diary I posted here some months ago (http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/9386/), a priest in my high school hit on me–bigtime.  Then when I went to him in confession, hoping for some guidance on how to live as a gay Catholic, he told me to commit suicide.  Yes, that’s right. The Catholic “man of God” who I reached out to told me to kill myself.
And my experience is far from unique, believe me.  I’ve heard similar horror stories from a large number of other ex-Catholics over the years.  And it has, quite unanimously, been traumatic for us.  The phrase “recovering Catholic” is not just snark.
You are obviously in severe denial about the vicious nature of the institution you’re clinging to.  Their abuse of the LGBT community is not just political.  It extends down to the personal level all too often.  People are hurt; lives are damaged, for no better reason than to try to perpetuate a medieval belief system and impose it by force of law on people who want no part of it.

Normally, I’d agree.Normally, I’d agree, but when I sat through all the testimony here in DC about gay marriage, one of the most moving supports for gay marriage came from a (almost certainly) gay Catholic priest.  It was amazing.  I would really have troubles if he got caught up in this.  Luckily, I think he’s officially part of another Archdiocese he won’t be listed.

you don’t know?Let me try to put this as plainly as I can…these people and their institution have declared war on us. Their purpose is to destroy us, our culture, our families, our organizations, our political power (what there is of it!). They intend to fight against us with all their power and to try and make a lot of money doing it. They are the enemy, and anyone who aids them is a collaborator in the war against us. We have to use whatever legal means at our disposal to disarm them and save ourselves from their oppression.  

Sorry, but I’m not in denial.I don’t doubt your experience was exactly as bad and as painful as you describe it (having read the diary), and I have no doubt that was the experience of many, many others.  But it’s not the experience of everyone.  It certainly wasn’t mine, nor many of the gay Catholics I know.
I’m not in denial, QScribe – I was just raised with a very different catholic experience than you were.  I experienced a very post-Vatican II liberal Catholicism, and so did most of the out gay Catholics I know.  And I also know how vicious the leadership of the church can be, and indeed is.  I see it every year when the local bishop rails against something my alma mater has done that he doesn’t think toes the party line.
But I am able to separate that institutionalized career-oriented power-grabbing (which is what it is, no different from any other corrupt corporation) from the individual Catholic priests who are upright members of the church and who provide good pastoral care.

*TOWSYes, tows the party line is what I meant.  What can I say? It’s late and I had a few beers at the happy hour!

Perfectly said.

The National Cathedral is Episcopal, and its bishop, +Chane, is pro-LGBT rightsChane has been one of the vanguard in speaking out for LGBT rights in the civil realm and within the Episcopal Church,and has consistently supported his fellow bishop +Gene Robinson, famously the first out partnered Episcopal/Anglican bishop.

You are actively supporting an organizationthat wants to destroy your life, attack your family, strip you of civil rights and undermine your basic dignity as a human being.  Supporting and defending them.  If that isn’t denial, what would be, in your mind?
And as for gay people turning to the Catholic church for guidance, how many of our brothers and sisters have been steered into crypto-ex-gay scams like Dignity and the even more iniquitous Integrity?   Those programs are alive today, not years back when I was a high school kid.  If that’s your idea of support, you’re welcome to it.
And as for your assertion that

The leadership of the church in Rome will only harden more.

that’s probably true, but so what?  Do you really think this campaign is about winning the heart and mind of your Nazi pope?  This is, quite simply, about weakening the authority and influence of the church here. Benny and his stooges in Rome can stand on their heads and spit holy water, for all anyone cares.  But if this campaign can weaken them and make it harder for the Vatican (a foreign power, may I remind you) to meddle in American politics, it will more than have accomplished a worthwhile end.

Appreciate your opinion, but I just disagree.I’m not “actively supporting” the Church.  I don’t attend mass with any sort of regularity and I don’t give them even a dollar when I do.  I’m not defending the Church, QScribe, I’m defending the priests.  I realize it’s a blurry line, but it’s one I draw.  I long ago reconciled my faith with my abandonment of the religion as in institution.
As far as undermining my “basic dignity as a human being”, well, that’s ascribing an awful lot of power to them.  The Church does not and cannot have that power.  No one can have that power over me but me.
I’m not sure what you mean by ex-Gay Scams like “Dignity”.  I belonged to a Dignity chapter in Northern Virginia. (briefly, before I couldn’t be bothered to make the commute anymore because I was too lazy on weekends!) There were no-ex-gays there.  Everyone was out, gay, and in many cases partnered.
You say “This is, quite simply, about weakening the authority and influence of the church here.”  That may be what Attey thinks he’s doing, but he’s wrong.  Outing priests isn’t going to weaken the church’s political power at all – it will only hurt the priests.
I continue to stand by my belief that this campaign is significantly more mean-spirited than other outing campaigns, and frankly reflects badly on Attey.  I understand you disagree with me.  That’s okay – reasonable people do.  Thank you for engaging in the dialogue.

There’s a lot of gray here.Some priests treat openly gay people with respect and don’t speak against gay relationships, counselling individual parishioners that they should follow their own consciences, as the Vatican II council declared was appropriate for laypeople. Some priests justify their failure to preach the Vatican anti-gay line by stating that they would rather emphasize the speech and acts of Jesus, and that they need to teach the parish core Christian doctrine and story, not go on and on about minor details that mostly serve to make the majority of the congregation feel smug.
Priests can wordlessly communicate exactly what they think about dictates from above – and many or most parishioners catch on. The bishop sends out videotaped homilies about the evils of gay marriage, and the tapes must be played on the Sunday before election, but resistant priests may play it at the end of the least well attended service, after Communion, or during the coffee hour, ensuring that the tape gets ignored more completely that the droning delivery of the bishop already ensures (Catholic priests are not given very good training in preaching). Parishioners can read body language perfectly well, and pretty much sense that their priest is embarrassed or bored by the Bishop’s trivial concerns, and would much rather be doing the practical acts of mercy (feeding the hungry, visiting the sick and imprisoned, etc).
I’d rather reach out to the closeted but semi-resistant priests, point them toward the Episcopal or Old Catholic traditions and the non-closeted clergy of those denominations.
The priests who enjoy libeling gays on a frequent and voluntary basis, but also enjoy f-ing with same-gender casual partners – those folks need to be exposed as hypocritical careerists. Out them.  

mine too…..poof

We agree to disagree, then.And I’m fine with that.  I can’t imagine we’ll ever come to agreement on this.  (But I have to say that “I’m not defending the Church…I’m defending the priests” sounds to me like a distinction without a real difference, on the order of “Love the sinner, hate the sin.”)  We have drastically different viewpoints, and we can each live with that, I’m sure.  I’m reminded of the exchange in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum:  Filia: “For us, there can never be happiness.”  Hero: “Then we must learn to be happy without it.”

I actually agree with you, canoebumbut I do know some very fine Catholic priests who are gay (and who were a big help to me). Not in the DC Archdiocese, but in a couple of other ones.
It’s not necessary to talk down to me like that. Allow me to process the very real possible damage to good individuals the best way I can.
Hopefully, priests of the typre that I describe would come out on their own…